Indulging Morbid Curiosity

Loren Rhoads spent ten years indulging in the tales of the taboo.

As publisher of MORBID CURIOSITY magazine, Rhoads solicited stories many would never tell. Quite often essayists submitted tales of shame, dark curiosity and trauma. Some submissions were compelling and others were upsetting. But Rhoads says that once word got out, there was no shortage of them.

She's recently collected stories from the now-defunct publication for a book called MORBID CURIOSITY CURES THE BLUES.

LISTEN: LOREN RHOADS - MORBID CURIOSITY

The Occult and America

Spiritualism and the occult have often found a place to thrive in the United States.

Mitch Horowitz, author of OCCULT AMERICA: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation, says that this "hidden wisdom" didn't get debunked from American life as much as it just got absorbed into more mainstream ideas.

Horowitz talks about the role the Masons played in the founding of the United States, and how Norman Vincent Peale and other popular self-helpers took from the example of a mail order psychic.

LISTEN: MITCH HOROWITZ - OCCULT AMERICA